Bill Belichick Responds to Robert Kraft, Says Taking Patriots Job Was a 'Big Risk'

The back and forth between New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick continued this week with the legendary head coach responding to comments from his former boss.

In a statement to ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr., Belichick said he took a "big risk" by taking the Patriots job when he was hired in 2000.

"As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job," Belichick said. "I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable."

Belichick went on to say he received warnings from "multiple" former Patriots coaches about taking the job before he agreed to the deal:

"I had been warned by multiple previous Patriots' coaches, as well as other members of other NFL organizations and the media, that the New England job was going to come with many internal obstacles. I made it clear that we would have to change the way the team was managed to regain the previously attained success."

The comments came in response to Kraft saying on the Dudes on Dudes podcast with former Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman and tight end Rob Gronkowski that bringing in Belichick was a "big risk" because he hadn't had a lot of success as a head coach prior to being hired by New England.

It's not a stretch to say that Belichick and Kraft did not end things on good terms when the two sides agreed to a mutual parting of ways in January 2024.

Per an April 2024 report by Van Natta, Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler, Kraft helped torpedo Belichick's candidacy for the vacant Atlanta Falcons' head-coaching position by warning Falcons owner Arthur Blank "not to trust" Belichick.

In the lead up to the release of Belichick's book "The Art of Winning" being released earlier this year, Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe noted Kraft's name doesn't appear once in the text. That includes the 363 people mentioned in the acknowledgement section.

The latest public comments from Kraft and Belichick about the risk that was taken in 2000 is a case of both men being right.

There was not a lot of acclaim and celebration toward Kraft from the Boston media when Belichick was hired. His first run as a head coach saw him go 36-44 with one playoff appearance in five seasons with the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to '95.

The Patriots, at that point, were far from a marquee organization that had its pick of the most-established coaches in the league to choose from. They had some good years in the mid-90s, highlighted by a Super Bowl appearance in 1996, but they had just three 10-win seasons in the 13 seasons prior to Belichick's arrival.

Belichick's hiring combined with Tom Brady taking over at quarterback early in the 2001 season catapulted the Patriots to a run of 19 consecutive winning seasons, 17 AFC East titles and six Super Bowl victories.

Regardless of who took the bigger risk back in 2000, things worked out great for both Kraft and Belichick. They are two of the most important figures in the NFL from the 21st century so far and the story of the league can't be told without either one of them.